GAO revises 2026 report on working Medicaid and SNAP participants

The Government Accountability Office reissued its report on federal social safety net programs on Aug. 24, 2026, correcting table 6 and table 22 that contain Rhode Island figures for nondisabled, nonelderly working adult Medicaid enrollees.

The report estimates that 13.8 million adults enrolled in Medicaid and 10.6 million adults in households receiving SNAP benefits worked at some point during 2024, out of roughly 28 million Medicaid and 20 million SNAP participants in the 19-64 age range. About two-thirds of these working adults in each program logged full-time hours (35 hours or more per week).

Eighty-eight percent of wage-earning Medicaid enrollees and SNAP recipients were employed by private-sector employers in 2024, a share higher than that of wage-earning adults not enrolled in either program. Both groups were also more likely than non-participants to work in food service and food preparation occupations.

State-level data compiled in September 2025 identified 46 companies that appeared among the top 25 employers of Medicaid enrollees or SNAP beneficiaries in at least two of the 11 states providing data. Seventeen of those companies rank among the 50 largest Fortune 500 firms by employee count.

GAO conducted the analysis to update information from its October 2020 report (GAO-21-45) and to provide current estimates of labor characteristics and employer patterns for working adults in Medicaid and SNAP. The report was prepared using recent Census data and employer information from 15 state agencies across the 11 states.